The Trinity: Tibetan Medicine Enterprises “Generate Blood” to Alleviate Poverty

　　In the 1990s, the government called on private enterprises to invest and set up businesses in remote areas, leveraging the participation of these enterprises to transform the region’s resources into market demand. Through job creation and tax contributions, this approach provided a sustainable, self-sustaining form of poverty alleviation—known as the “Guangcai Initiative.”

　　Inspired by the "Guangcai Initiative," Lei Jufang joined a Chinese Guangcai Poverty Alleviation Delegation to Tibet and, in 1995, founded in Linzhi a technology-based enterprise that provides assistance to Tibet—Tibet Qizheng Tibetan Medicine Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as "Qizheng Tibetan Medicine"). After more than 20 years of exploration, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine has gradually developed a poverty-alleviation mechanism integrating industry-based poverty alleviation, education-based poverty alleviation, and health-based poverty alleviation.

　　Industry-based poverty alleviation

　　Give back to the local economy and devote efforts to poverty alleviation.

　　Qizheng Tibetan Medicine is a Tibetan medicine enterprise that integrates drug research and development, manufacturing, and sales. Its growth stems from the wise utilization of resources from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and its achievements have in turn enabled it to “give back” to the local community.

　　Tibetan medicine has developed into a self-contained system, boasting a complete medical framework, extensive clinical practice, and unique preparation techniques. It can offer effective diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for many challenging conditions that pose significant headaches for modern medicine.

　　When Qizheng Tibetan Medicine entered the Tibetan medicine industry, Tibetan medicine had just been included in the Ministry-issued standard series and lacked a solid industrial foundation. Modern production technologies and equipment were particularly scarce. In subsequent development, due to geographical and cultural barriers, Tibetan medicine’s recognition among consumers remained far behind that of traditional Chinese medicine, making its promotion in mainland China especially challenging.

　　Over more than two decades of development, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine has taken inheritance and innovation as the two key pillars driving its industrial growth. It has carried out extensive work in the field of modernization and technological innovation of Tibetan medicine, becoming one of the vital forces behind the development of Tibet’s pillar industries. In terms of promoting Tibetan medicine, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine has embarked on a path of “bringing Tibetan medicine down from the plateau, entering the inland markets, and exporting it far and wide both domestically and internationally.”

　　Since Qizheng Tibetan Medicine established its presence locally, batch after batch of local employees have joined the company and, as the enterprise has grown, have also realized their own personal value. As of now, the company has 216 employees in the Tibet region. By 2019, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine had cumulatively paid over 2.2 billion yuan in taxes in Tibet.

　　2020 was the year to achieve a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects—and also the year for making a final, decisive push in the battle against poverty. Private enterprises have become an important participant in targeted poverty alleviation efforts. In 2017, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine took on the task of providing targeted assistance to impoverished households in Haiding Village, Bomê County, Nyingchi, Tibet. The company invested nearly 300,000 yuan to help the village shake off poverty. Over the past three years, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine has conducted thorough field visits and research, implementing a program that provides each household with yaks worth 8,000 yuan each. Villagers have been encouraged to raise these yaks well, milk them more frequently, use the yaks for plowing fields, and engage in practical activities such as producing dairy products and selling yak wool. The villagers have highly praised this approach, commending the company for its sincere commitment to poverty alleviation.

　　Education-based poverty alleviation

　　Support general education and boost Tibetan medicine education.

　　To fundamentally transform the country’s impoverished and backward state, we must promote the development of education and foster talent cultivation. General education is an essential component of China’s education system, and Qizheng Tibetan Medicine’s support for general education covers both basic and higher education.

　　At the basic education level, the company has established Qizheng Primary School in Duowa Township, Tongren County, Qinghai Province, a remote pastoral area. Each year, the company provides financial support for infrastructure development and teaching programs. To date, it has invested a total of 708,000 yuan, effectively ending the local situation where there had never been any junior high school students. Since 2018, the company has launched a charitable scholarship program, enabling eight orphaned children to continue their studies through high school.

　　To support higher education for the general public, the company has established the “Qizheng-Saicang Scholarship” at Gansu National Normal University. Over the past 16 years, the scholarship has been awarded cumulatively to over a thousand students. The company has also set up an international scholarship program aimed at cultivating high-quality technical and business professionals for ethnic minority regions.

　　Folk Tibetan medicine education is one of the key factors in preserving and promoting Tibetan medical culture. Since 2004, when Qizheng Tibetan Medicine fully funded and built the Gongbu Manlong Yutuo Tibetan Medical School in Nanyigou, Linzhi, Tibet, the company has consistently paid close attention to and supported folk Tibetan medicine education. Starting from 2017, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine has supported six folk Tibetan medical schools in Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and other regions, undertaking a total of 19 funding projects—including establishing the Tibet Suoxian Tibetan Higher Education Continuing College, donating funds for the construction of the school buildings at the Gabu Tibetan Traditional Medicine Vocational and Technical School in Qinghai, and building the comprehensive outpatient teaching building for the Xueyu Dajili Zhong Tibetan Medical School in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai. To date, the company has cumulatively trained over 5,000 students in folk Tibetan medicine education and invested more than 20 million yuan.

　　Enterprises are implementing projects to protect the relics of the founders of Tibetan medicine, supporting the publication of classic works by master Tibetan medical practitioners, and backing the release of albums showcasing Tibetan medical culture. Additionally, they are constructing and continuously upgrading Tibetan medicine cultural exhibition halls at their own industrial bases in Tibet and Gansu, thereby promoting the inheritance and dissemination of Tibetan medical culture.

　　Health-based poverty alleviation

　　Donating to build a Tibetan medicine clinic and conducting mobile free medical consultations.

　　The western region is vast, and medical resources in remote areas are relatively scarce.

　　In 2008, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine launched the “Hundred Tibetan Medical Clinics Initiative,” a special public welfare program aimed at donating and supporting the establishment and operation of Tibetan medical clinics in remote areas of Tibet and Qinghai. These clinics provide simple, effective, and affordable medical services, earning widespread trust and popularity among local residents.

　　Regarding the treatment of common rheumatic diseases, receiving care at a nearby clinic is nearly 1,700 yuan cheaper per treatment course than hospitalization. Oral medication treatment costs more than 1,000 yuan less. This approach helps improve the quality of life for farmers and herders living near the newly established clinic and reduces their risk of falling back into poverty due to illness.

　　Among the Tibetan medicine clinics funded by Qizheng Tibetan Medicine, some of the doctors are graduates who were trained through enterprise-supported Tibetan medical education programs. After graduation, most of these students go on to work in Tibetan medicine-related fields, becoming a vital force in primary healthcare services in remote areas.

　　Qizheng Tibetan Medicine is carrying out health poverty alleviation efforts in remote areas. In addition to providing funding for Tibetan medicine schools and clinics, it also organizes free medical consultations on a long-term basis.

　　Since 2017, the Qizheng Tibetan Medicine Medical Team has repeatedly traveled to Haiding Village, Dala Village, and Motuo Village in Bomê County, Tibet, providing free medical consultations to alleviate the difficulties villagers in remote mountain villages face in accessing medical care and obtaining medication, and distributing free medicines. In 2018, Qizheng Tibetan Medicine invited Tibetan medical experts to Yushu, Qinghai Province, for a six-day free medical service campaign, providing medical care and medicine to 3,000 people. In 2019, the company carried out Tibetan medical free consultations and medicine distribution activities in multiple regions across Tibet.

　　In 2011, Yadong County in Tibet was struck by an earthquake. Qizheng Tibetan Medicine immediately dispatched a team of eight members from the “Qizheng Tibetan Medicine Guangcai Medical Relief Team,” carrying a total of 300,000 yuan worth of relief medicines to the disaster area. The team stayed in the affected region for 17 days, providing medical assistance to more than 1,600 people. Following the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the “Qizheng Tibetan Medicine Guangcai Medical Relief Team” traveled to nearby Shigatse to provide medical aid.

　　Reporting media: China Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine

　　Report link: http://www.cntcm.com.cn/2021-01/21/content_85523.htm